Methodist Bishops' Document On Nuclear Arms 'Morally Obscene'

May 28, 1986|By Charley Reese of The Sentinel Staff

I took exception to the United Methodist Council of Bishops' statement on nuclear weapons, based on a summary of its findings. Now, having read the complete text, I am outraged. The bishops have produced a morally obscene document.

Anybody who, as the bishops clearly do, asserts the moral equivalence of the United States and the Soviet Union is committing a morally obscene act. It is the same as saying that Jews and Nazis were ''participants in the Holocaust.'' It is the same as saying that the Germans and the Poles started World War II. It is the same as saying that a rape victim and the rapist committed rape.

How can anyone claim moral authority without making the distinction between the victim and the aggressor, between arms reluctantly taken up in defense and arms eagerly procured for aggression?

If you will read the full text of this insidious document, you will see that the bishops place equal blame on the United States and the Soviet Union for the arms race. As if that were not bad enough, they are much more generous in their criticism of the United States than of the Soviet Union. They constantly refer to ''the superpowers,'' as if there were no difference between a free, peaceful, generous and open society and the awful tyranny of the totalitarian state.

They assert, for example, that U.S. defense is being ''purchased with food stamps, welfare checks, rent subsidies, Medicaid payments, school lunches, and nutrition supplements for poor mothers.'' This is a flat lie. Defense constitutes 30 percent of the federal budget. The bishops' claim that it constitutes more than half of all discretionary spending is a clever lawyer trick. The truth is that Congress has made most of the welfare spending non- discretionary. We are spending $18 billion on food stamps. President Reagan requested $8.2 billion for development and manufacture of nuclear weapons, and he won't get that much.

The bishops even imply that there is a racist element of American defense. ''Clearly, the demilitarization of America must be accompanied by a powerful new national commitment to equal opportunity for racially- disadvantaged people.''

They then indulge in a little character assassination. Apparently those of us who wish to remain strong so we can remain free are bad apples. The bishops say, ''The legitimate need for self-respect as a nation must be lifted above the relentless barrage of aggressive, competitive, and chauvinist sentiments which assault them not only in political rhetoric but also in commercial, recreational and even educational institutions.'' Watch out, Rambo.

Then they make the most amazing statement of all: ''Each government has given the other abundant cause for grievance since 1917.''

Each government? Maybe they refer to the Hoover group that saved millions from starvation after the Bolshevik Revolution. Maybe we provoked them by granting them diplomatic recognition even as they were committing genocide against the Ukrainian people? Perhaps we provoked them by providing U.S. investments and technology in the 1930s. Perhaps it was a grievance when we gave them $11 billion in military aid when their own Nazi ally turned on them? Perhaps we offended them by offering to turn over our nuclear facilities and technology to an international agency -- an offer they rejected out of hand. Perhaps we offended them by not insisting they live up to their agreements. Perhaps we offended them by standing by as they crushed the liberty and lives of the East Germans, the Poles, the Hungarians and the Czechs. Maybe we provoked them by protesting the shooting down of a civilian airliner, the invasion of Afghanistan, the consistent support of terrorism and the murder of 54 million people.